What does "No-Fault" mean in terms of Divorce in California?

California was the first state in the United States to pass a law that allowed for a “No-fault” divorce. “No-fault” is exactly what it sounds like: the dissolution of a marriage does not require one party or the other to accuse the other or prove any wrong-doing. Passed in 1969 and signed into law in 1970, California led the way to what would eventually become law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. New York State passed their No-fault law in 2010 to fill in the map.

Prior to No-fault, divorce was a much more adversarial action with spouses needing to prove that their partner had somehow breached the contract and sanctity of the marriage. Quite often, a divorce was not adversarial. People just grew apart. That was, however, not a reason to divorce. This led to people making up stories of infidelity and wrong doing just to be able to legally end their marriage. Often this was done by one spouse to the shock of the other, who was perfectly innocent of the accusations. In terms of alleging wrong-doing, California is actually one of many states that neither require nor permit an allegation of a fault-based ground for divorce. This is to remove the temptation for perjury, which was the main incentive to pass a no-fault law in the first place.

One function of a no-fault divorce is that both spouses do not necessarily have to agree about getting divorced. One person cannot legally withhold a divorce from the other. As long as one spouse wants the marriage to end, it is going to end.

No-fault was not universally looked upon as a move in the right direction, some alleging that it allowed those who abused and took advantage of their spouses to get away with their behavior. No-fault was argued to put women as a disadvantage allowing men to end a marriage leaving women with no money or a means to support themselves. As California has been a community property state since its inception in 1850, No-fault wasn’t going to have a major effect on distribution of assets.

Another argument against No-fault was the ease of which a divorce would be granted. After the no-fault was passed, there was a rise in the number of divorces. This was seen as negative, however, these were failing marriages from which people had no escape. The law was intentionally keeping unhappily married people together.

However, as a divorce is easier to obtain, there is a 6-month waiting period for divorce in California. It is, essentially a cooling-off period. With 6 months being the minimum time that a divorce can be granted. It gives the parties time to get all of their information together, find new living accommodations, figure out schools for the kids and overall ensure that the decision for divorce was not based on one bad fight, but rather a true desire to end the marriage. This does not mean that the marriage is over in 6 months. This is just the shortest time frame in which a divorce can be granted. A divorce proceeding will often go past the 6-month time frame. The more points of contention related to the divorce that there are, the longer the divorce will take.

If you have any questions related to No-fault divorce, or the 6-month waiting period, call the law office of Tracy Duell-Cazes at 408-267-8484 for a free consultation.